2014 In Review.
We began 2014 with 13 unadopted fosters – Carmela, Melfi, Meadow, Tony, Paulie and Silvio and their mother, Livia were at Petsmart. Mr. Stripey & Sungold (who had been adopted, but were returned) were at the shelter. One return after 6 years (Brolo). In residence, we had:
Toto.
His sister Tricki.
John Smith.
And his sister Bunnie.
On January 3rd, Paulie Walnuts got adopted. The next night, Silvio, Melfi and Tony were adopted (Silvio alone, Tony and Melfi together.) The next day, Carmela went home.
It was a wild couple of days! Unfortunately, a few days later Tony and Melfi were returned due to someone in the adopting family having worse allergies than they’d realized.
But then Meadow was adopted!
On January 8th, Alice had surgery for bladder stones. She came through the surgery just fine, and has been doing great ever since.
Toto and Bunnie went to Petsmart on January 16th, leaving John Smith and Tricki here, waiting for room to open up so they could go to Petsmart, too.
Only a few days later, Bunnie and Melfi were adopted (separately), opening up room for Tricki and John Smith (but if you’ll recall, that wasn’t the last we saw of that gorgeous slinky girl!)
Tricki and John Smith went to Petsmart on January 23rd. The foster room was only empty for about 24 hours before it was ocupado again. Five 4 month-old kittens moved in.
Angelo.
Ferdinand.
Maria.
Mariette.
Orlando.
We called them The Players (which Joe suggested in the comments), and they were super skittish sweetie pies.
On January 28th, John Smith was adopted.
On the 30th, you got to meet what should be a familiar face to you by now.
That right there is Dennis, snuggled under the doll bed with Maria. In a move that Fred and I like to call “MEET YER NEW PARTNER”, we just put him in the room with the other kittens and let them work it out. It worked just fine at first, then the girls got hissy toward him, and then they worked it out in the end. Kittens can be such drama queens.
Also on the 30th, Tony Soprano was finally adopted.
On February 3rd, I announced that except for Angelo, the Players had lost their fear and had turned into friendly little lap sitters.
Possibly my favorite Orlando picture. Those ears are simply amazing, no?
Right around the same time, I discovered that Dennis really likes to be kissed, and will hold his face up for you to kiss him. This still holds true for that silly boy.
Mid-February, I managed to get a picture of all six Players, though Dennis refused to look my way.
On February 17th, I posted that Toto had finally been adopted!
And I walked into the foster room to find Dennis snuggled up with Maria and Mariette, looking very smug.
And the next day, the Players (except for Dennis, who came to me already neutered) went off to be spayed and neutered.
Winnie sent me a picture of the Players (except for Dennis) as little ones!
On February 24th, I got word that Khaleesi was returned for the second time. The reason wasn’t completely clear – she was either too active at night, or possibly picking on another cat in the house.
This picture of Mariette continues to make me cackle.
ONE! SINGULAR SENSATION! Every little step she takes!
In February Brolo – who was my foster back in 2007 and then was returned after 6 years – was adopted again. His Mom – Susie – reported that he was doing wonderfully well.
At the beginning of March, my parents came to visit. More importantly (ha), they brought their adorable Molly.
Several of you requested a day of Molly pictures, and I complied because she is so freakin’ cute.
I informed y’all that Angelo has a dirty little secret, and that is that he’s a toe sucker. It’s a little gross, but mostly very very sweet.
Also, we discovered that Tommy has Plasma Cell Pododermatitis, which is commonly known as Pillow Paw or Pillow Foot. We treated it with Atopica for a while, and it did a great job of keeping it under control, but Tommy hated it so much that meds time was stressing him out. We switched to steroids, which keeps it pretty well under control. It looks like it’s going to be a chronic condition, and he’ll have to stay on the steroids – any time Fred tries to lower the dose, Tommy’s paws get worse.
I got another picture of all the Players, though it wasn’t easy.
I told y’all about Mariette’s favorite game, “HALLO, DENNIS, IS MY BUTT.”
Mariette’s other favorite thing: sitting like this.
On March 18th, I told y’all that we finally gave up and put a screen door at the bottom of the stairs. I still think that’s the SMARTEST thing we’ve ever done to this house, and I wish we’d done it a lot sooner. Of course, this pretty much happened immediately:
Ferdinand, Orlando, and Maria went off to Petsmart on March 20th. And by Sunday Ferdinand had been adopted, and so had Khaleesi (separately).
In mid-April, Angelo and Mariette went to Petsmart. I brought home two familiar faces…
Tricki.
And Orlando.
Then I brought home…
Thomas, the 9 month old polydactyl, who was freaked out and fascinated by the ceiling fan.
After he’d had a weeklong break from the Petsmart cage, Orlando went back, and I brought Livia home with me.
It didn’t go so great at first – Livia was super hissy toward the other cats in the foster room, and I was considering taking her back to Petsmart, but luckily she calmed down. A few days later, we put the screen door up at the bottom of the stairs and opened the foster room so that the cats would have more room to roam, and to get away from each other if they wanted to.
On May 3rd, I admitted to y’all that Dennis had actually gone to Petsmart when I took Angelo and Mariette, but that it didn’t go well at all, and I had to go back a few hours later to bring him home. I tried my very very best to get someone to fall in love with and adopt that boy, even putting up an “ADOPT THIS CAT!” page, which so many of you shared, but there was not a single nibble.
On May 7th, Maria was adopted.
In mid-May, Thomas went to Petsmart, and I posted what continues to be one of my favorite pictures of Tricki.
It’s still the wallpaper on my desktop monitor.
Livia and Dennis got to be buddies during her break from Petsmart, and we saw this a lot:
Mariette was adopted on May 15th.
On May 20th, Livia and Tricki went back to Petsmart. They didn’t become friends, really, while they were here together, but they got along okay.
Stefan brought us the first of several (fully alive and unhurt) baby bunnies.
Fred wouldn’t let me keep it. Hmph.
On May 22nd, I told y’all that we’d let Dennis into the downstairs, and it went well. Then I shut him out of the foster room, cleaned it, set it up, and installed a new litter…
Gilbert (I don’t even care that this picture is blurry, I love it so.)
Grant.
And Marshall.
Left to right: Gilbert, Marshall, Grant.
Grant and Marshall were brothers, and Gilbert was a singleton who needed buddies to play and fight with. They were 8 (Gilbert) and 9 (Grant & Marshall) weeks old. We named them the Cheez Doodles, a name that Gail coined, and which worked well for this bunch.
I exposed Sheriff Mama’s dirty little secret:
She actually gets along pretty well with the other cats, especially Tommy (but then, who doesn’t love Tommy?)
At the end of May, I posted a “Won’t someone give Livia a home?!” post, but apparently it wasn’t her time yet.
On June 6th, I introduced you to the new guys:
Blaster.
And his brother Mooch.
We just stuck them in with the Cheez Doodles, with our usual “MEET YER NEW PARTNER!” move, and they were hissy and growly and floofy at first, but they worked it out. Blaster and Mooch were at the shelter for a few weeks. They’d been neutered and had their initial shots, so they came to us to have buddies to play with, room to run around, and to wait out the time for their final shots. They were just a few days younger than Grant and Marshall.
Marshall upheld the “Look, Dennis! Is my butt!” tradition.
On June 10th, Thomas was adopted.
Dennis became a mentor of sorts to the Cheez Doodles, and this picture continues to kill me dead:
And also, there was a lot of this:
In mid-June, Orlando came back from Petsmart for some rest and relaxation, and was inundated with kittens. Luckily, he handled it well.
“THAT’S AN AMAZING TONGUE YOU GOT THERE, MISTER. I ::THLURRP:: LIKE THAT TOO, BUT MY TONGUE’S NOT AS LONG. I GOTS A SHORT TONGUE. BUT IT’S A GOOD TONGUE. IT WORKS FOR ME.”
On June 21st, Dennis told y’all that he’d been adopted.
“You’re already home,” she said to me.
Creed, who was my foster back in 2009, was returned in June (for the second time – he was returned in 2011 because of a child’s really bad allergies. He was adopted out again shortly after.), because he was peeing everywhere. Susan had him checked at the vet, and he was loaded with crystals. He was put on special food and has been doing just fine ever since. Currently, he’s at Petsmart, available for adoption.
I got a picture of all five of the Cheez Doodles.
(I love it when I’m able to do that.)
After a two-week break from Petsmart, Orlando went back and I brought Angelo home.
At the beginning of July, Fred was finally able to make contact with Chachi, the stray who’d been coming around for months. Soon after, we whisked him off for testing, neutering, and vaccinations. Once that was done, we put a collar on him and attached a note that said, basically “If this is your cat, could you let us know? We just want to make sure he’s cared for.” We didn’t see him again after that – either they decided to keep him inside, or he stopped roaming.
On July 4th, I announced that Orlando had been adopted!
I continue to adore this picture so very, very much (make sure you check out the action in the background) :
Dennis got all up in Stinkerbelle’s face, and lived to tell the tale.
I told y’all the story about how Dennis went missing (over the back yard fence) overnight, and when we woke up the next morning he was back… and Fred found a little black and white tuxie girl sitting on the front porch. We like to say that he found her when he was wandering, and brought her to a safe place. She went immediately for spaying, and to the shelter. When I posted about her, she’d just gone to Petsmart.
At the end of July, I attended the cat show, and Mooch was adopted!
The other kittens weren’t terribly thrilled about being in a cage at the cat show, but they did like getting lots of attention and petting, so it was certainly worth the trip.
At the beginning of August, the remaining Cheez Doodles (Blaster, Grant, Gilbert and Marshall) went to Petsmart.
Orlando had unfortunately been returned a month after he was adopted, so I brought him back home with me.
After a week of no adoptions, Grant and Gilbert were adopted – together!
For several days, we had Orlando and Angelo here with us, and two older kittens is SO much quieter than little wild kittens.
Orlando and Angelo headed back to Petsmart in mid-August, and I brought Tricki home with me for a short break from the cage. I was originally slated to bring Livia home with me as well, BUT…
FINALLY!
At the beginning of September, we were challenged to the Mice Bucket Challenge by Connie, in which we were happy to take part.
Tricki went back to Petsmart AGAIN. And a few days later, this boy finally went home!
I have zero doubt that Orlando was meant to go home with Teresa all along, it just took a while to get there. He has bonded with his sister Pickles, and I get to see pictures and videos of him on Facebook (which I might be a little lax about sharing with y’all; I will try to do better!)
A few days after Tricki went back to Petsmart, we had a single occupant of the foster room (and of the rest of the upstairs) for a couple of weeks.
Polo is a diabetic Challenger’s House cat whose regular foster mom was going on vacation, so he needed a place to stay. Things lined up just right so that he could stay with us. It made for a very quiet couple of weeks, believe me.
On September 9th, Blaster was adopted.
That left just Marshall from the Cheez Doodles at Petsmart, but he and Monday (the kitten Dennis “rescued”) got along so well, that they got to share a cage so they wouldn’t be lonely.
On September 13th, I announced that Tricki had been adopted (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) She was three days shy of being at Petsmart for a year (with breaks, of course.)
I am still SO thrilled that she was adopted, and hope that we get an update one day. I’d love to hear if she stays tiny – she was less than 6 pounds when I took her for her rabies shot while she was with me, and I am pretty sure she was done growing, or close to it.
On September 20th (Friday), I teased y’all with a picture and promised that you’d get to meet the new guys on Monday.
Then I introduced you properly:
PW.
Ralph.
Von.
Winn Dixie.
Trader Joe.
(And we all died from the cute.)
Here’s another of my favorite pictures; the utter glee on PW’s face kills me dead.
On October 10th, Marshall was adopted.
Not only was he adopted, he was adopted with Monday, the kitten that Dennis “rescued”! How perfect is that?
Then on October 12th, finally finally FINALLY Angelo was adopted.
I talked to Susan a couple of weeks later, and she told me that the people who adopted him were initially a little worried because he wasn’t eating, and he was just hiding all the time. Then a few days later, they let her know that he’d started eating and coming out of hiding more. They were willing to be patient with him, and told Susan that they were 100% committed to him, and that he was absolutely in his forever home. How wonderful is that! I hope we get an update in the future about that sweet boy.
I went on vacation to Myrtle Beach, and scheduled posts for while I was gone, including the series of pictures that still makes me howl.
When I got back from vacation, I upped the floof quotient in the foster room by adding Catelyn.
Catelyn was scooped up with a bunch of other feral cats, was spayed and ear-tipped, and was going to be released with the other cats, but then it was realized that she was too little and too friendly for that, so she came here to terrorize be friends with the other kittens. I don’t think I ever told this story, but Trader Joe was TERRIFIED of her at first, to the point where he wouldn’t go past her to go into the closet to use the litter box.
Luckily, he calmed down after a day or so.
I posted seventeen zillion pictures from Myrtle Beach, including this sunrise picture, which I adore.
At the end of October, I posted the sad news that Sungold had passed away unexpectedly at the shelter. There was consolation in the fact that the vet thought it was due to an aneurysm or a clot, so it probably happened quickly, and he didn’t suffer. Mr. Stripey continues to do well without his brother, and is still at the shelter and available for adoption.
Still my favorite picture of Sungold.
I tried to get some Halloween pictures of the cats, but only PW was cooperative (and not for long!)
The permanent residents were a little better about it.
Suggie with a witch’s hat.
There was a lot of napping-with-kittens going on.
I got a picture of all the Grocers, posing prettily.
In mid-November, I announced that five years after he’d been adopted, Terry was returned to the shelter.
On November 13th Catelyn, PW and Ralph went to Petsmart. There was, literally, a line of people waiting to see the kittens when adoption hours started, and within an hour, Catelyn and Ralph had both been adopted, separately!
It took two more days (oh, the struggle!), but PW was adopted.
And the very same day, Trader Joe went home!
Lilly drove all the way down here from Wisconsin to adopt him. He was less than thrilled about traveling on day 2 of the journey home, leading to this awesome picture:
A couple of days later, Winn Dixie and Von went home, too!
They went home – together – with Cathy and Bruce, to Indianapolis. The girls were pointed out to Cathy by Elaine, who was also the connection to Jennifer, who adopted Starsky and Hutch (now Jack and Percy) back in 2010. I’m thinking maybe Elaine deserves a kickback!
I put together collages of each of the Grocers in this post. It’s amazing how quickly they go from round little fuzzballs to long, slinky cats.
I shared a picture of Terry at the shelter (from when I’d taken Trader Joe (now Sherman) up for the adoption).
On November 20th, I introduced you to the new guy, a scared little black kitten we named Thunderclap Newman.
We had thought he might be on his own for a few days while Winnie tried to trap his siblings, but as it turned out, she was able to nab two of them just a few hours after I brought TC home – a little tuxie we named Jethro Tull, and a tortie we named Molly Hatchet.
When I look at those scared, suspicious eyes, I can hardly believe they’re the same kittens! They had no desire to be touched by the icky humans… until they did.
(That’s right around the time you Jethro Tull fans took me out behind the woodshed and beat me for calling them a “one-hit wonder.”)
TC was the first to climb into my lap, but Jethro wasn’t far behind.
Byron was kind enough to send some pictures of Jethro, TC and Molly’s mother and aunt, and the last kitten, who hadn’t yet been trapped.
I posted on November 26th – when they’d been with me for a week – that Jethro was laying on his back in my lap, and Molly came over to sniff at him. So, yeah – it didn’t take the boys too long to decide I was okay!
I got a picture of all three of them together (which is good, because it took a couple of days before Molly and Jethro stopped hissing at TC; they’d been apart from him for a week, after all, which is like a decade in kitten time.)
On December 2nd, Molly, Jethro and TC went off to the vet for their testing, neutering, and id chipping. The boys handled it pretty well, but Molly was a bit of a fighter.
I did a Throwback Thursday post about Sookie (one of the True Blood 6 and sister to Terry), so that I could tell you that (sigh), she’d been returned to the shelter. The story’s a little confusing, but basically the adopter left Sookie with a friend and moved away. The friend tried to ingrate Sookie into her household, but she didn’t get along with the resident cat, so was returned.
She stayed at the shelter for a little while, and then went to Petsmart, where she is currently. She’s a sweet, friendly, curious girl – and a TALKER – so I don’t think it’ll be long before she’s adopted.
On December 5th, I introduced y’all to Archie, who showed up at the feeding station a couple of weeks ago. We had him tested, vaccinated, and neutered, and he spends most of his time at our house now. No, he hasn’t been inside and there are no plans to do so. Fred made the shelter next to the side stoop warmer (put a carrier inside a Rubbermaid container, and stuffed straw around it. Then he put a self-warming cat bed inside the carrier. And then, before the weather turned cold the other night, Fred added a heated bed to the whole shebang. There’s no reason for Archie to feel one moment of discomfort, is what I’m saying.
Also on December 5th, I introduced y’all to Lizzy, sister to the other three. Jethro, TC and especially Molly were super hissy toward her, but eventually calmed down.
I was really worried about how tamable Lizzy would be, given that she’d been living wild for three weeks longer than her brothers and sister, but she actually warmed up much quicker than Molly did, and at this point she’s friendlier than Molly.
They haven’t yet TNR’d the mother and auntie, but are planning to do so, hopefully soon.
On December 8th, I announced that Molly had actually climbed into my lap, of her own volition. And she even stayed there for a decent amount of time, letting me pet her! It’s still unusual for her to climb into my lap, but she’ll do it from time to time, just to mess with me, I suspect.
Less than a week after Lizzy had joined her siblings, I peeked in on them via the DropCam, to find that TC and Lizzy were actually sharing a bed. They weren’t snuggled up together, but they were both on the same bed, and that was nice to see.
On December 11th, I did a post of all the cats who have shown up at Crooked Acres on their own, and holy cow are there a lot of them! (We’re still not having luck getting hold of Spike so we can have him tested and vetted, but Fred’s still working on it.)
I posted this picture of Sugarbutt, making me worry about the possibility of him falling out of that bed, into the trash can.
I mention this because yesterday morning, as I was sitting at my desk working on this post, he did indeed fall out of that bed, head-first into the trash can. He flailed around, butt in the air, righted himself, and jumped out of the trash can. He came back to that bed later, but made certain to sleep on the back part of the bed. Who says cats can’t learn? (But I suspect it’s not the last time that’s going to happen)
On December 14th, Terry was adopted!
He was adopted by reader Christine, who couldn’t get him out of her head. As it happened, she had a friend who was visiting Huntsville, and was willing to bring him back home to Georgia. He joined Christine and her husband, and their two sweet Boxers.
On December 17th, we played another game of “MEET YER NEW PARTNER!” in the foster room, and added three more kittens to the mix.
Lita Ford, Stevie Nicks, and Pat Benatar are a little older than Jethro, Molly, Lizzy and TC, and came from a couple in Huntsville who do TNR. The girls had been spayed and had their first vaccinations, and we were happy to add them to the bunch while they wait out the time for their last vaccinations.
They were all scaredy cats at first, but Lita and Stevie came around quickly and are total lapcat lovebugs. Pat took a little longer to come around, but now she’ll happily come over for petting when beckoned.
I switched the litter name for Jethro, TC, Lizzy and Molly to “The Classic Rockers” (since none of those groups are one-hit wonders; I was initially calling them “The Wonders”), and the litter name for the new girls became “The Girl Rockers.”
I posted the best picture ever of the most adorable spider in a Santa hat, which I won’t post here because some of you are big ol’ babies and don’t like the creepy crawlies, but I will link to it, so that whoever wants to see it again can.
We celebrated Boxing Day.
On the 29th, once they were safe in their new home, I told y’all that Jethro and TC had gotten on a plane and flown all the way to Oregon!
I just love it so much when my fosters get to go straight from here to their new home, perhaps I’ve mentioned this 189 times or so?
And that brings us to the end of the year!
If you include the kittens we started the year with (Toto, Tricki, Bunnie and John Smith), and the ones we’re ending the year with (Lizzy, Molly, Lita, Pat and Stevie), we had 30 fosters move through here. There are 5 currently unadopted (Lizzy, Molly, Lita, Pat and Stevie), but the 13 we had at the end of 2013 (Carmela, Melfi, Meadow, Tony, Paulie and Silvio and their mother, Livia) were all adopted, so we’ve had 38 fosters adopted in the last year. We had three returns in 2014 – Creed, Terry and Sookie. Terry was adopted back out, but Creed and Sookie are at Petsmart. Mr. Stripey, who was returned in 2013, is still at the shelter, doing well, and available for adoption. We have now fostered a total of 256 cats and kittens (if you include Monday, the kitten Dennis “rescued”)!
Want to see all their faces in one place? You know you do! Click on the small picture below, to see the larger version over at Flickr.
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The state of the permanent residents in 2014.
We started the year with a dozen, added Dennis for a total of 13 (a baker’s dozen!), and though I don’t really consider him a permanent resident but probably should because we’re feeding and keeping an eye on him, I guess I’ll add Archie to that total.
After her bladder surgery in January, Alice recovered and is doing just fine. Tommy continues to have mushy paws, but gets around okay, and as long as we keep him on the steroids, I expect he’ll continue to do well.
No one has run away, no one has taken ill, I think we’re doing good!
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I’m just going to go ahead and repeat what I said last year, and the year before.
As we begin this new year, I’d like to take a moment to thank you all for reading. I know that a lot of you say that you like to start (or end) your day at Love & Hisses, reading about the kittens and the permanent residents. You give me (and each other) advice, ask and answer questions, fall in love with the kittens we foster and our permanent residents, and grieve with us as we’ve lost permanent residents. I started this site because I can’t shut my face about cats and kittens, and to have y’all enjoy the pictures and stories I post means more than I could ever begin to express. I appreciate each and every one of you, whether you’re here every day or just come by every now and then. We’ve built an amazing community here, and I certainly could never have done it alone.
So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you all so very very much!
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Previously
2014: 2013 in review.
2013: 2012 in review.
2012: No entry.
2011: No entry.
2010: No entry.
2009: This is going to be hard – it always is – but I have to trust that they’ll end up in fantastic homes with people who spoil them as rotten as we do.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.